Thoughtful piece. Thanks, Richard.

Excellent, in fact.

Are you up for a discussion on any aspect of your essay?

If so, there seems to be a bit of a disconnect between this: “We don't want any more Pink Batt scandals”

And this: “Oh and by the way, none of it is the fault of Rupert Murdoch, whatever you may think of him and the appalling crassness of many of his corporate products.”

If not from Murdoch or Murdoch-influenced mainstream media, where did you get the idea the pink batts scheme was scandalous, Richard?

From the CSIRO?

From the Coroners?

From the Auditor-General?

From any of the other official inquiries?

From here at OLO this week?

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=15423

From IA last week?

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/politics/we-really-must-talk-about-the-pink-batts/

Happy to work this through if you are, Richard.

Thanks.

Cheers,

Alan A

Publishing this article on the eve of an election seems rather questionable.

I mean, Richard might be a perfectly nice person but why should anyone care about why he is voting for the Coalition with its 'enrich the wealthy and punish the poor' ethos?

I hope OLO publishes an article from some Labor stalwart outlining why he or she is voting for Kevin just to balance the ledger a little.

It wouldn't do to be accused of bias, would it?

Wow David, didn't you notice all the articles by Alan Austin, one by Jo Coghlan, & another by Lyn Bender, in just the last few days.

I guess you are typical of the rusty lefties, who have actually started to believe their own bulldust.

This bloke is very close to a Labor apologist. You need to get out more & think what the real people think.

I am not a labour stalwart but I will be preferencing them after my first choice of Green. I am only voting green because there is no middle of the road party that is aware of the really pressing problems of the time that I can vote for.
The depressing thing about this election is that neither of the parties that will have a chance of power are in fact serious about global warming and peak oil. Both of these are caused by overpopulation and this is not to be spoken of by the big two.
The liberals are too much beholden to big business to be able to do anything about it even if they were so inclined.
That is why Australia will be in deadly peril if Tony Abbott becomes prime minister.
He has said that climate change is a load of S*6t and it is obvious that he will dismantle any policies that negate climate change.
OK he will only be in for a limited time but it will mean that the country will be further behind in tackling the most serious problem there is.
The only party that should be voted in is the new SPP but they are so far from being in power that it is heartbreaking.
In the next few years, as the list of extreme weather events add up, more voters will see the danger and maybe make a stand. We can only hope.

Robert LePage, "Both of these are caused by overpopulation and this is not to be spoken of by the big two"

The Greens Protest Party has a vague policy. However their actions in promoting their open door immigration policy to all comers for instance, are at odds with their policy.

The Greens enjoy sledging young Aussie couples who want to have children by the offensive term of 'breeders'. But the federal government's own reports show that Australian couples delay having children and do not go on to even have the children they wanted.

Australians achieved zero population growth decades ago and maintained it.

The rapid population growth in Australia is all due to successive federal governments' ever-increasing immigration, where records are continually broken annually.

That is all despite the very soundly based arguments put by State Premiers against these extreme immigration intakes.

The Premiers, the present federal Labor Foreign Minister Carr among them, cited serious infrastructure problems, but neither the feckless Greens in the Senate who were more concerned about gay activism, nor the Labor government, were at all concerned. Kevin Rudd for instance, was hell-bent on his 'Big Australia', to be achieved by the 'diversity-we-have-to-have'. What a slimy way to win a UN job!

Perhaps you are more inclined towards the Greens anyhow. But to rationalise your preference by saying it is because they might limit population for sustainability is really stretching credulity. Yes, the Greens are down on young Aussie couples having children, but they are stupid to believe Australia can solve the world's over-population with their 'open door'.

BTW, is it the gay bent of the Greens that necessitates the use of offensive slurs like 'breeders' to refer to the ordinary working young Aussie couples who want to start a family? No matter, that sort of stuff has become the hallmark of the Greens.

Ah the good old days of 1972 and 1983 when there was actually a significant difference between Labor and Liberal. Sigh. I worked in Canberra then, and there was always a buzz around elections because a change in government actually meant a real change in direction

‘I am by nature a Liberal voter in Australia, since I believe that while we must look after those whose life circumstances make it difficult for them to do so themselves, we should avoid mollycoddling.’

Well, you’ve shot yourself in the foot there. The Liberal Party is the mollycoddler’s party par excellence. It believes in forcing the taxpayer to fork out billions in benefits to people who are bone idle, who believe in something for nothing, who have a strong sense of their own entitlement.

If you are upper middle class or higher, went to a private school, follow a luxurious lifestyle, have a healthy investment portfolio, own lots of real estate and/or run a corporation, then there is no end to the taxpayer benefits you can collect. And you don’t even need to queue up at the local Centrelink office. They come to you.

‘Oh and by the way, none of it is the fault of Rupert Murdoch ...’

And speaking of mollycoddling …

Alan: ‘Thoughtful piece. Thanks, Richard./ Excellent, in fact.’

You were being ironic, I hope.

What a boring piece of selfish dribble. 3 out of 10

'enrich the wealthy and punish the poor' ethos?
David G,
surely you could come up with something more intelligent than that ? I thought your Labor was so brilliant that there couldn't possibly any poor in Australia.
I only hope that if the Coalition gets in they'll rid us of Labor's Peter Principle appointees. They're the ones taking most of our tax Dollars.